On the afternoon of April 24, sixteen athletes made it onto the South American podium in the sport of Taekwondo, closing this discipline in style at the IV South American Youth Games Panama 2026.
In the Kyorugui -44kg women’s category, Brazil’s Silva De Sousa defeated Panamanian Natalia Pérez 2-0 in the final.
Gold: Poliana Silva De Souza – Brazil
Silver: Natalia Pérez – Panama
Bronze: Betania Medina – Paraguay
Bronze: Belinda Mancilla – Bolivia
The day ended with high-level matches and outstanding performances from the athletes. The countries that reached the podium were Brazil, Panama, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
In the +63kg women’s category, Ecuadorian Maite Caicedo won the gold medal after defeating Stephani Valente 2-0 in the final. Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina were the main nations on the podium at Panama 2026 in a discipline marked by high level bouts.
Gold: Mayte Caicedo – Ecuador
Silver: Stephani Valente – Brazil
Bronze: Kiara Paz – Colombia
Bronze: Camila Martínez – Argentina
Meanwhile, in the Kyorugui -73kg men’s category, Ecuador’s Jhonny Mejía won the gold medal after defeating his opponent 2-0 in the final.
Gold: Jhonny Mejía – Ecuador
Silver: Vicente Tapia – Chile
Bronze: Marcos Larivey – Argentina
Bronze: Mateo Moscoso – Peru
The day ended in style in the Kyorugui -55kg men’s category with the match between Colombia’s Daniel Torres, who won the gold medal after defeating Gabriel Da Silva 2-0 at the Combat Center.
Gold: Daniel Torres – Colombia
Silver: Gabriel Da Silva – Brazil
Bronze: Leonel Imboden – Argentina
Bronze: Klayton Fiallos – Ecuador
In this way, with a total of 16 medals, and with Poliana Silva De Souza of Brazil, Maite Caicedo of Ecuador, Jhonny Mejía of Ecuador, and Daniel Torres of Colombia winning gold and making their national anthems echo at the Combat Center of the Irving Saladino Sports City, the Taekwondo competition at the IV South American Youth Games Panama 2026 came to an end.
